Homily for Ash Wednesday March 5th, 2014
“Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart.” “Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.” “Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” Our readings today call us to this time of repentance- a forty-day call to conversion to prepare ourselves for the joyful celebration of Easter in spiritual and bodily purity.
I remember as child giving up sweets during Lent. I made the sacrifice, in fact I was quite proud about my success; but as I think back, my success didn’t really change me much. I didn’t save the money I would have spent on candy and given to the St. Vincent de Paul Society nor did I take extra time to prayer in order to grow closer to God. I can’t really say I ever really got anything out of Lent- it was just a time where I didn’t eat candy and got ashes and then went on with my same sinful selfish habits. I don’t think this is the type of Lent we are called to. Lent must be about more than just receiving ashes and then going on living our lives just like before; we have to make an effort with the help of God’s grace to change for the better..
The Lent our Lord calls us to today, is one of conversion, which is a change of heart. Our hearts need to turn back to God in love and our lives must change to reflect that love. We might not think we are so bad; after all, we may say to ourselves I try to go to Mass every week. Maybe I don’t make it every week, but after all I’m a good person. The problem is, is that God doesn’t want us only to be good, He wants us to be holy, that is to be His intimate friends. He wants us to love Him; not like we love chocolate or coffee or anything else in this world, but to love Him fully completely, more than anything else in this world and to show that love by becoming a better Christian. And we can’t do this without adoring the Holy Eucharist both at Mass and outside of Mass.
Lent is not a time to beat ourselves up, but it is a time of honesty, a time to admit we can do better—to become better, holier; that is, if we care to make an effort and turn to God for help. Lent is then a time for reflection and self-examination, a time to admit the truth about ourselves in the light of God’s grace, and so to admit our sinfulness, and make a commitment to God to do something about it. Lent is a time snap out of our indifference and lukewarmness and admit truthfully that none of us love God enough…but from this point on we are going to ask God at Holy Mass and through daily prayer, to increase our love by helping us to have a deeper conversion of heart in order to live our lives more deeply in union with Him through His Holy Church.
Lent is also a time of hopefulness, of looking forward to the joy of Easter; not only to Christ victory over death, but our own victory over selfishness, self-centeredness, egotism and sin, which is always a failure to Love God and neighbor for love of Him. Lent is time to say yes, that even though it is going to cost us some effort, we can, with the help of God grace, love Him more and love our neighbor more for love of Him. And so, today is the first day we, in a deeper way, put God and His will first, in order to show Him we love Him; we show this by, our fasting, our almsgiving and our prayer, especially at Holy Mass. We want to love God more, and love those we love more, and God for His part wants to help us this very Lent grow in our love. And it is at Holy Mass that we are giving the grace of a deeper love; and so God will send us His Holy Spirit so we can attend Holy Mass with a deeper more active, full, conscious and fruitful participate and so grow in our love for God and neighbor.
And so, instead of just giving up candy or coffee maybe we can do the following this Lent:
*First of all Give up something that you are probably going to fail at.
Lent is not about being successful (for that can increase our pride) but
in growing stronger in our control over our human appetites, both
bodily and spiritually. Remember, we have to fall before we can
walk.
*maybe instead of giving up candy or coffee we could give up being
grouchy or cranky, or being quick tempered, especially to members
of our family, being kind and generous instead.
*If we are not already doing so, devote time each day to talk to God in
Intimate prayer: every morning and evening for sure; and how about
the daily rosary as a prayer to Jesus through His mother.
*If we already pray, increase the time we converse with God. Spend
some time in silence (or in the silence of your heart) and there shut
out the noise of the world and listen to the small still voice of the
Lord.
*Pray together with the family- even it be for five minutes; or better
yet, pray the rosary together as a family allowing each member of the
family to offer out loud their own intentions before beginning the
rosary. Pray before meals, even in public, using the sign of the cross
like you wear the ashes on the forehead.
*Attend Holy Mass each Sunday, for sure; and every day in Lent if you’re
able.
*Give up that television show, which probably isn’t really good to
watch anyway and instead read a good spiritual book one that will enrich
your knowledge and love of our Lord and of His One, Holy,Catholic and
Apostolic Church.
*Come to Holy Hour and adore Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament during
times of adoration or make regular stops in the Church to spend some
time with Him, He who is truly present the tabernacle night and day
for love of you.
*Make a commitment to come to Stations of the Cross on Friday
night; better yet, bring the whole family along.
*Work on acts of charity; Such as:
*Devote more time or money or both to help the work of the
Parish’s St. Vincent de Paul Society.
*Work on my patience and kindness to others such as drivers I
meet on the road; say a blessing, or Hail Mary for them instead
of getting angry.
*Give alms by beginning or increasing my yearly financial
gift to the Church and to the poor.
*And finally, For sure, spend quality time making a good examination
of conscience in order to make a good confession so that your heart
will pure, and so a pleasing offering to the Lord. In order to receive
Jesus in Holy Communion worthily we need to be in a state of grace.
So don’t forget to make a good confession before you receive Him in
Holy Communion.
So this Lent is meant to be a sober reminder of life itself.
In a few moments, you will receive blessed ashes on your foreheads. The Ashes aren’t magic…they aren’t superstitious. They aren’t even meant to be more that just a sign of repentance; they are meant to be a sign of the grace of conversion God desires, wants to give us. We recall that we are dust and to dust we shall return. Our time here on earth is short and so it is urgent that we remove all those things that will keep us from heaven- all of those sinful patterns of our lives, and we remove them now.
You have no idea what sort of life you will have tomorrow...We may not even make it to tomorrow.Time is short, someday which is really not all that far away, we will die and our bodies will turn to the dust from which we came; what will remain is our love for God or lack there of. And so NOW is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation. There is nothing more important in our lives to be always in the state of grace with God; for we know not the day nor the hour.
Let us pray for one another that we may have a good Lent. May we entrust to the Virgin all of our desires to have a great season of Lent, filled with graces for our conversion ever closer to her Son. Be not AFRAID!!! God loves you the way you are; but remember, He loves you too much to let you stay the way you are!!!
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